From the Water Desk

Photo: Angela Eaton

Pretty Flowers in the Coffee Shop Today.

"Point the revolver at the man behind," he said, giving it to her, "if he presses us too hard. No!--point it at his horse."

Then he began to look out for a chance of edging to the right across the road. But once in the stream he seemed to lose volition, to become a part of that dusty rout. They swept through Chipping Barnet with the torrent; they were nearly a mile beyond the centre of the town before they had fought across to the opposite side of the way. It was din and confusion indescribable; but in and beyond the town the road forks repeatedly, and this to some extent relieved the stress.

They struck eastward through Hadley, and there on either side of the road, and at another place farther on they came upon a great multitude of people drinking at the stream, some fighting to come at the water. And farther on, from a lull near East Barnet, they saw two trains running slowly one after the other without signal or order--trains swarming with people, with men even among the coals behind the engines--going northward along the Great Northern Railway. My brother supposes they must have filled outside London, for at that time the furious terror of the people had rendered the central termini impossible.

Near this place they halted for the rest of the afternoon, for the violence of the day had already utterly exhausted all three of them. They began to suffer the beginnings of hunger; the night was cold, and none of them dared to sleep. And in the evening many people came hurrying along the road nearby their stopping place, fleeing from unknown dangers before them, and going in the direction from which my brother had come.

Had the Martians aimed only at destruction, they might on Monday have annihilated the entire population of London, as it spread itself slowly through the home counties. Not only along the road through Barnet, but also through Edgware and Waltham Abbey, and along the roads eastward to Southend and Shoeburyness, and south of the Thames to Deal and Broadstairs, poured the same frantic rout. If one could have hung that June morning in a balloon in the blazing blue above London every northward and eastward road running out of the tangled maze of streets would have seemed stippled black with the streaming fugitives, each dot a human agony of terror and physical distress. I have set forth at length in the last chapter my brother's account of the road through Chipping Barnet, in order that my readers may realise how that swarming of black dots appeared to one of those concerned. Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together. The legendary hosts of Goths and Huns, the hugest armies Asia has ever seen, would have been but a drop in that current. And this was no disciplined march; it was a stampede--a stampede gigantic and terrible--without order and without a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilisation, of the massacre of mankind.ALl

Sincerely,

Angela Eaton

Sherwood Institute

We let our roots show. Sherwood Institute was founded as an collaboration of engineers, environmentalists and urban designers to solve the world’s most pressing waterurban infrastructure challenges.

Angela EatonExecutive Director

Angela wants better working cities and strives to positively change how people live in and use public and private spaces.

Angela spent years in the tech trenches and worked as a consultant to apply her data management skills to municipal and utility clients looking for substantial green house gas reductions. She leads Sherwood Institute's programs in India, its Forum development and UN efforts. Angela can't pass a bake sale without buying a cookie. She joined the Sherwood Institute as Executive Director in 2014.

Shimolee NaharProgram Consultant Bangalore India

Shimolee is great. Environmental Studies and Civil Engineering from the University of California and has worked in the offices of planners, architects, and landscape architects as a civil engineer. John is a founding member of the Sherwood Institute and dedicates much of his experience to our work in Bangalore, India.

Suraj NambiarProgram Consultant Bangalore India

Carl joined the SI board in 2015 and brings both a passion for environment and clean energy. He works as a founding member of The Bridgespan Group and consults with nonprofits on issues of strategy and management. Carl is working towards a Masters in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School and holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Sydney. He currently lives in an apartment in Boston that is starting to feel a little small for him, his wife, young son and dog.

Meha SenthilProgram Consultant Bangalore India

Michael is an advocate of innovative, inclusive and long-view thinking and design. A Skoll Scholar, Michael holds a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Sciences and Policy from Duke University and a Masters in Business from Oxford. Michael helped to found Sherwood Institute and served as our first Director.

Vivek MenonProgram Consultant Bangalore India

Angela wants better working cities and strives to positively change how people live in and use public and private spaces.

Angela spent years in the tech trenches and worked as a consultant to apply her data management skills to municipal and utility clients looking for substantial green house gas reductions. She leads Sherwood Institute's programs in India, its Forum development and UN efforts. Angela can't pass a bake sale without buying a cookie. She joined the Sherwood Institute as Executive Director in 2014.